Stationary awnings



May 12, 1959 F. E. NELSON STATIONARY AWNINGS Filed June 2. 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1' INVENTOR. FREDERICK E. NELSON May 12, 1959 Filed June 2. 1954 F. E. NELSON 2,885,747

STATIONARY AWNINGS 2' Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR FREDERICK E. NELSON| ATTO'RNEY kiwamw STATIONARY AWNINGS Frederick E. Nelson, Greentree, Pa.

Application June 2, 1954, Serial No. 433,861

Claims. (Cl. -575) This invention relates generally to stationary awnings and more particularly to the slat structure and the manner of securing the same to a permanent frame.

Stationary awnings are mounted on a fixed frame which usually slopes. When the slats or panels are attached to this frame they assume the slope of the frame. Usually the slope of the frame covering a porch or patio is away from the house or building and this is the direction that the occupants usually wish to view. If the slats or panels making up the awning run with the slope all of the water is shed in that direction and extra equipment has to be employed to catch and control the drainage from this roof. Again purlins must be employed on which to mount the panels or slats, the purlins in turn being supported on the frame..

This invention solves these problems by shedding the water to the sides or laterally of the slope of the awning and eliminates the purlins and the extra drain gutters necessary with the present structure.

This is accomplished by providing a slat or panel that is constructed with two angular bends that produce a beam within the slat giving it strength along its marginal edges. These beam members are reinforced flanges along each marginal edge of the panels. This re-enforcing flange functions to stiffen the panel as well as to guide the flow of water therefrom. When the adjacent flanges of consecutive panels are stacked one upon the other,

their combined strength supports the panel surface and I any load that it may have to carry. This structure eliminates the use of purlins.

.To provide the subjacent stacking of the flanges of consecutive panels requires the use of special mounting clips to secure each of the panels at the position where they cross a frame rail.

f The intermediate portion of the panels are provided with an arcuate bend to further stifien the panel against flexures.

Other objects and advantages appear hereinafter in the Fig. .3 is adetailed sectional view of the outer or lowermost panel. of the awning shown in Fig. 1.

- Fig. 4 is a detailed sectional view to the topmost panel of the awning shown in Fig. 1.

;-- Fig. 5 is a detailed sectional view of a modified-form 2,885,747 Patented May 12, 1959 Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a second form of mounting clip with lateral clamp ears.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a third form of mounting clip having a hook-shaped pipe clamp.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a fourth form of mounting clip having a tubular clamp.

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a fifth form of mounting clip made of wire.

Fig. 12 is a detailed sectioned view of a wire clip being applied to the stacked flanges of adjacent panels and plier crimping the clip thereto.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 the frame to support'the stationary awning or roof is constructed of the vertical posts 1, 2 and 3 connected together by the horizontal eave rail 4. Five sloping rails 5 connect the horizontal rail 4 with the face of a building indicated at 6. vThe upper ends of the sloping rails 5 have attached thereto the screw lugs 7 that may be secured by embedding them in the face of the walls of the building structure 6. If there is no building the rails 5 are connected to a ridge member and may continue down to another horizontal eave rail supported as shown. To further stiffen the frame, the end rails Sare tied to the building structure by the braces 10. This represents the frame on which the panels are mounted. The rails 5 may slope or not and if they do not slope, it is preferable that the center rail be slightly higher than the end rails to allow the water to drain in both directions.

The panels making up this awning are preferably metal. Aluminum produces a lightweight and strong structure when formed in the manner disclosed. The intermediate portion of the panel is fluted longitudinally as indicated at 11. This fluting starts at a short distance, such as an inch or more, from the marginal edge formed by the right angular bends 12 and 13 that providetheir upwardly projecting respective sides 14 and 15. The side 14 is deeper than the side 15. An inturned flange 16 and 17 finishes each of these sides or strengthening beams and also completes the cross-section of each panel member. Each panel is the same. They are usually painted when in flat sheet form and one side may be covered with a different color than the other which provides a lined effect when viewing the top of the awning.

The panels or slats may be any length.

When being assembled the wall flashing strip 18 is an angle strip of the same length as the panels. The strip is preferably made with bottom flange 20 as shown in Fig. 6. This flange has a series of drilled holes 21 to receive the rivets 22 which secure it to the uppermost panel. The flange 20 lies under the flange 15 of the panel. The strip 18 is secured by the fastener 23 to the 3 wall of the building. It is preferable to first fasten the strip 18 tight against the building. The flange 24 on this flashing strip 18 covers the small flange 15 of the top panel 12. A felt or soft rubber plate 25 may be used in back of the flash plate if desired.

The top panel member is also attached to the rails 5 by the clips 26 which are shown in detail in Fig. 7. These clips have an upper book 27 that fits down over the flange 16 of the larger marginal stiffening flange 14. A bend 28 is made in the clip 26 to receive the small re-enforcing flange 15 of the next lower panel. The clip 26 has downwardly projecting ears 30 that are provided with aligned holes 31. I These ears extend down around the rails 5 and a machine screw 32 passes through the holes 31 and is secured by a nut to clamp the clip tightly on the rail and thus hold the lower edge of the top panel on the rails 5. The smallflanged edge 15 of the next consecutive panel 33 is forced into the bend 28 of each clamp atthe rails 15 to mount the upper edge of the panel 33 to the rails 5. The lower edge of the panel 33 is then secured at each rail 5 by the same clamps 26 as indicated at 34 in Fig. 4. Each adjacent panel is thus secured to the frame until the last panel 35 as shown in Fig. 2 is inserted in the clamp 36 and the lower edge of the last panel extends beyond the horizontal rail 4. The large flange 14 of this last panel functions as a gutter. Each panel catches rain and permits it to drain off the sides of the patio and for this reason the centermost rail may be made a little higher than the other four so that the water will drain in both directions.

The horizontal or eave rail 4 and the last panel 35 are drilled at a series of spaced distances to receive the metal screws 37 to thus look all of the panels in place. As shown in Fig. 5 the panel member 35 has been bent down over the horizontal rail 4 after being fastened by the series of screws 37. This provides a trim hiding the horizontal rail 4. I

The clips shown in Figs. 8, 9 and 10 have similar hook portions 27 and 28 as the clamp of Fig. 7. However, each ofthese hooks have difierent clamp portions.

In Fig. 8 the strap 40 that forms the clamp that is bent around the pipe has a short end 41 and a long end 42 to position the aligned holes 31 disposed with their axes vertically.

The clamp structure of Fig. 9 has one long leg 43, is constructed so that it loops around the pipe and the holes 31 may be aligned with holes through the pipe 5 and drive screws 44 are employed to secure the clamp to the pipe.

In the structure of Fig. 10 the clip 45 has duplicate halves formed from a single piece of metal. The bend 28 from each side of this clip provides a top section that rests on top of the rail while the bight 47 extends around the bottom of the pipe. The loop that forms the bight 47 is opened to slip the clip on the pipe and is pushed up into position. When the lower flange 14 is inserted under the hooks 27 of the clamp 45 the halves are brought together and thus clamp on the pipe. The clamp is then driven along the pipe to force the small flange of the panel into the bend 28 of the succeeding clamps.

Referring now to Figs. 11 and 12 the clamp 48 is a wire having formed therein the bight 49 and the right angle bends 50 that form the top of the bends 28 of the other clips. The wire ends are bent vertically and horizontally as indicated at 51 and 52. When the panel has been positioned with the small flange 15 inserted under the bend of the previous clamp and small flange 15 of the next consecutive panel is in place as shown in Fig. 12 the sections 52 extend across the top flange 16. A dual plier 53 is inserted with its lower arm 54 in the flange 15 under both sections 50 of the wire clamp. The horizontal sections 52 engaged by the abutments bend the ends of the wire down under the flange 16 thus pulling the wire taut and locking the parts together. The clamp 45 may be secured in the same manner.

The bends in the clips or clamping members, whether made of wire or strap material, determine overlap of the panels. The thickness of the material of these clips or clamp members determines the spacing between adjacent stacked flanges of the panels providing horizontal vent openings and they are applied without drilling the panels or the frame. The only panel that requires holes is the bottom panel where it is fastened to the rail 4. Since the flanged panels are mounted horizontally, each panel discharges the rain it receives laterally to the ends of the panels. The drip is to the side of the awning and the discharge is from the individual panels which prevents concentrated drainage, a very undesirable condition. Upon installation these clips or clamps and panels may be made from below the panels. One does not have to crawl on top of them to put them in place. The panels themselves are re-enforced by their side bends and flanges. These stiff panels maintain the alignment of the awning. When assembling this awning tthe panels maintain alignment by inserting them to the full depth of the bends in the clips or clamp members. If the frame is not exactly formed the panels themselves may be mounted in proper alignment and still supported by the frame.

It is to be understood that the invention disclosed herein is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawing since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways.

I claim:

1. A stationary awning for mounting-on a frame with a series of inclined parallel rails which comprises a series of panels having upwardly extending inturned flanges along the full length of the marginal sides of cach panel, said panels mounted transversely of the inclined rails with the flange on the upper side of each panel under the flange on the lower side of the next upwardly adjacent panel of the series, fasteners securing the end panels of the series to the frame, clip means for clamping adjacent side edges of the panels to the rails, each clip means having a rail embracing body with a stem means to detachably secure the clip means to the rail, a hook extending upwardly from the body and bent C shape with spaced legs the bottom leg extending back over the upper flange of the lower panel and the top leg extending over the lower flange of the upper panel, and a downwardly extending section on the end of the upper leg to clamp over the lower inturned flange of the upper anel. p 2. The structure of claim 1 characterized in that the stem means of said clip means has oppositely extending sections that embrace both sides of said rails.

3. The structure of claim 2 characterized in that said sections are provided with holes that align with each other when embracing said rail, and clamping bolt means in said holes.

4. The structure of claim 3 characterized in that said bolt means lies below the rail.

5. The structure of claim 3 characterized in that said bolt means lies vertically.

6. The structure of claim 1 characterized in that the stern means of said clip means has a laterally extending ear that hooks over the rail to embrace the same.

7. The structure of claim 6 characterized in that said ear is provided with holes that align with each other when the hook embraces the rail, and bolt means to clamp said hook in position.

8. The structure of claim 1 characterized in' that the hook of said clip means is in duplicate halves and the stem means embracing the rail is continuous, with a panel flange hook at each end.

9. The structure of claim 8 characterized in that said clip means is a flat band.

10. The structure of claim 8 characterized in that said clip means is a wire.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 473,128 Rankin Apr. 19, 1892 1,277,479 Ritchie Sept. 3, 1918 1,780,862 Bloss Nov. 4, 1930 1,810,287 Mahon et al. June 16, 1931 2,467,604 Tinnerman et a1. Apr. 19, 1949 2,542,919 Freeman Feb. 20, 1951 2,565,545 Card Aug. 28, 1951 2,602,971 Shaw July 15, 1952 2,657,437 Moser Nov. 3, 1953 2,747,242 Ellman May 29, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 154,158 Australia Nov. 16, 1953 

